The CW Fun Event is a 48 hour event. Event-13 begins on February 21, 2015 at 0000 UTC
and ends on February 22, 2015 at 2359 UTC. The event will measure your ability to
accurately send and receive Morse code on amateur radio frequencies using
traditional sending/receiving methods.

As an active ham operator you can get a measure of both your copying and sending
proficiency, however, you do not have to be a licensed ham radio operator to
participate. You can participate as an SWL to measure your copying ability and
earn points for that.

Since this event will focus on traditional methods of sending and receiving, the
use of electronic keyers or keyboards for sending, or CW skimmers or decoders
for copying, is not permitted. Use a straight key, sideswiper, or bug for sending
and the decoder between your ears for receiving. You can use computer logging to
keep track of things and you can use the
FunSpots spotter page
to look for contacts and to announce your participation. Of course you are not to
put anything on the spotter page relating to the content of your QSO exchanges.

Your participation score will be made up from three parts: your QSO count, your
send count, and your copy count. How the points for each part is determined is
described below in the section on scoring.

Although scores and a ranking list will be generated by the analysis program it is
the intent to make this a fun event rather than a contest. Hopefully participants
will learn something about their copying and sending ability by participating.

As a licensed ham you can participate in sending but you will not be able to earn
points for sending proficiency unless you have registered for the event. You have
to register because you must send a unique "word" in your QSO exchange. The word
is taken from a list of words that you get via email when you register. There is
no duplication of words on your list and with the lists of other registered
participants. This ensures that the results analysis program can match words with
call signs and award sending points accordingly.

Registration is simple, just enter your information in the registration form below
and click the submit button. In a day or so you will receive via email additional
information and your unique list of "words" to be used in your QSOs. It is absolutely
essential that you enter a valid email address to receive this information. You
will want to print the word list to keep it handy as you operate in the event.

To announce your participation in the "Fun Event" you can try calling CQ FE DE your call.
Suggested frequencies in kHz are centered around 3555, 7040, 7055, 7115, 14055, 21055 and
28055. Operation on the WARC bands for the event is not permitted.

If you have registered for the event, the first contact you make should be sent
the first five letter "word" in your list of words. This should be sent in the
exchange after your name. For example, RST 589 NY DICK JTKLW BK. You can repeat the
word as many times during the QSO as it takes to get a QSL or GUD CPY response.
After logging your first QSO cross the first word off the list and get ready with
the next word for the next QSO.

You should give an RST report so the other operator may be made aware that repeating
the info may be helpful. Sending QTH info is optional.

You can count a second QSO with the SAME STATION on the SAME BAND provided that
BOTH parties have had at least one QSO with some other station in between. This
new QSO will be using new words in the exchange.

If you are registered, but the person you contact isn't registered, send the next
word anyway and cross it off your list. You could get "send points" if someone
reports having copied it. If you have not registered, you will, of course, have
no word to send but copy what is sent to you because you could earn copy points
for it.

If you contact someone who does not know about this event they may ask what the
gibberish in your exchange is. You can send them to this web site for info.

The K2RFP Sprintlogger is
ideally suited for logging data for this event. You have to keep an accurate record
of the "words" you have copied since you will have to submit a list of them as a
"WordString" to earn copy points. Whatever logging program you use, if it saves
the log in ADIF you can use the
LogScan
program to generate the "WordString" for you from the ADIF log file. If you keep
your log on a spreadsheet you should look for a free converter program to convert
your log to ADIF and then run it through the LogScan program. If you are a paper
logger you can manually enter your QSO data in the grid provided by the LogScan
program. The LogScan program is a Windows program that will run on all flavors of
Windows from Windows-95 to Windows-7 and will also run with Wine under Linux.

When computer logging, record the "word" you copied as the first five characters
of the Comment field in your log. That is where the LogScan program will look for
data to construct your "WordString". You can copy and log CALL/WORD pairs for QSOs
that do not involve you to earn copy points whether you are registered or not. This
is what SWLs would do to earn copy points.

Correct CALL/WORD pair matches are determined by the results analysis program
and awards points accordingly. For CALL/WORD pairs you copy while acting as an
SWL, set the RST-Tx field to 0 or leave it blank. The LogScan program will know
not to count these QSOs for QSO points but will still use the CALL/WORD pair to
build the WordString for you to submit.

Your score for the event will be determined from five values as follows:

QSOCount

This is the number of stations you have contacted and exchanged data with. You,
and the other person do not have to be a registered participant so exchanging
words either way is not required for this count. Make sure you have not included
in this count any QSOs for which you were just acting as an SWL.

SendCount

You have to be a registered participant to know what to send and possibly get
SendCount points. The person you are sending to, or an SWL copying you, must also
submit results data and name you and the word they copied from you. The results
analysis program will determine your total points for this based on the copy data
that has been submitted for the event. Note that the points you earn for this, and
your final score, may change as more data comes in to validate your SendCount points.

CopyCount

This is the number of |CallSign : Word| combinations you have copied correctly.
The results analysis program will determine this value based on the "WordString"
you submit. See below. You do not have to be a registered participant to earn
CopyCount points. Further, you can act as an SWL and include data you copied
that was being sent to someone else and not to you at all.

CallsCount

The CopyCount includes multiple words correctly copied from registered players.
The CallsCount counts only the number of UNIQUE callsigns from which you have copied
at least one word correctly.

BonusPoints

After the submit window closes one of the call signs will be picked at random
from the list of calls that submitted results (excluding SWLs) to be the designated
"BONUS STATION". The results analysis program will search the calls in the "WordString"
you submit for a match to the BONUS STATION call sign. If found, you will get a
one-time bonus of 25 points. The BONUS STATION will also get the one-time
bonus. So the more DIFFERENT stations you work, the greater are your chances of
winning the bonus points.

The results analysis program will add the points together to arrive at your
final score.

For the analysis program to award points for sending and copying it must match up
"word" and call sign data. The registration procedure insures that each participant
gets a unique word list known to the analysis program. There are no duplicates
within a list or between lists.

To earn CopyCount points you need to construct a "WordString" for the QSOs you
have logged. If you have an ADIF log file, the
LogScan
program will do this automatically for you. The WordString consists
of the call signs and words you copied from them. Here is what a "WordString"
might look like:

| K2RFP:WQPMT | NT9K:JLJBX | KB4QQJ:BLVYG |

QSOs with "words" that are not five characters long and contain anything other
than letters will be ignored. There is no magic here, it just copies data
from your file and puts it a form that the submit form expects. If you are a
paper logger you can also use this program by copying your data into the grid that
the program provides. You can also use a text editor to manually construct your
WordString. Use | to separate QSOs and : to separate the call sign from the word
you got from that station. Spread sheet loggers can enter their data manually or
convert the spread sheet data to ADIF and let the LogScan program construct the
WordString.

It doesn't matter about upper or lower case and you can insert spaces if it make it
easier for you to read. The analysis program will convert everything to uppercase
and ignore the spaces. Note if you worked the same station more than once,
(that is allowed), the call and the unique word for each of those QSOs should
appear in the WordString.

Once you have this string of data you simply copy and paste it into the place
for it on the results submit form at the end of the sprint. The analysis program
will check the data string to determine the number of points to award to you and
the other participants in the event.

Results Submit Form

After the event the submit window remains open until 2359 UTC on the Friday following
the event. If you have entered your data and then discover an error you can re-submit
your data again provided the submit window is still open. Your new data will overwrite
your old data.

Q: What modes are used for this event?
A: Duh! Why do you suppose it is called a CW Fun Event?

Q: Okay, it's CW. Can I use a keyer or keyboard?
A: No, only straight keys, sideswipers, or bugs.

Q: Can I use skimmers or decoders?
A: No, only the decoder between your ears.

Q: Can I use a spotter page?
A: Yes. One has been set up for this event
here.

Q: What frequencies?
A: No WARC bands. Use the frequencies suggested above and stay within the privileges
of your license class.

Q: Do I have to be a ham to participate?
A: No, if you can copy Morse code you can earn copy points but obviously no QSO or send points.

Q: I'm a ham. Do I have to register for the event?
A: No, BUT you can only earn copy and QSO points. You must register to earn send points.

Q: I'm a ham and registered but lost my word list. What do I do?
A: Do NOT register again. Send an email to the event manager requesting a second copy.
Then stand in the corner until you get it.

Q: Do I have to keep a log?
A: You do not have to submit a log but you will have to keep a record of your work
during the event if you plan to submit your results.

Q: Can you recommend a computer logging program?
A: Any program that can generate ADIF files should work. The K2RFP Sprintlogger
is ideally suited for CW events like this because it has built-in procedures specific for these events that
makes record keeping and results submission extremely simple.

Q: Can I use a spreadsheet logging program?
A: Yes, but you will have to convert your file to ADIF if you want to take advantage of the
LogScan program.
You can Google the internet for a free spreadsheet to ADIF converter program.

Q: The LogScan program runs on the Windows operating system and my computer does not
have a Windows operating system. What should I do?
A: The LogScan program analyzes an ADIF log file and generates the "WordString" to
be entered on the results submit page. If you can't run the LogScan program you will
have to construct the WordString manually or get someone with a Windows operating system
to do it for you.

Q: Is this an SKCC event and do I exchange SKCC numbers?
A: No, it is not an SKCC event but many SKCC members join in the fun. Exchanging SKCC
numbers is not part of the exchange but you may do so to allow for the QSO to be counted
toward SKCC awards, but keep in mind that it is up to the award manager to determine
if the QSO qualifies for the award being sought.

Q: The rules say I can have a second QSO with the same station on the same band provided
that BOTH parties have had at least one QSO with some other station in between. Can
you explain how that works?
A: If you hear a station calling CQ that you already worked, you shouldn't answer the
call unless you had at least one QSO with someone else in between. If you did have a QSO
in between, and you answered the new call, the other station would assume you were following
the rules on your end but would only respond to you if they also had at least one QSO in
between.

Q: This is billed as a "fun event". What if I don't have any fun with it?
A: Your key must be defective. Send it to K2RFP at the address given on QRZ.COM and
it will have a nice retirement.

Special thanks to Randy at KB4QQJ for providing web space for this venture and to
Bill at NT9K for help with some of the technical aspects of setting up the earlier
events. Both have provided feedback and suggestions as I put the project together.
I hope all participants have fun with this uniquely different activity.